Awesome Eclipse in Sumter

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At last, today was the great American eclipse! It was really hot here, but that meant it was sunny and blue skies. So good news for eclipse watchers. We got up around 7am and went to the lobby for complimentary breakfast buffet after I showered. We were early enough that we easily got food and seats. It was a good complete buffet. I took a yogurt to the room fridge for lunch later. Clay had a steak sandwich in the fridge from my leftovers last night. We went out for a few hours hoping they would have time to service our room. We went next door to the Tractor Supply and saw live chicks for sale. Cute! We stopped at a Honda dealer. We stopped at CVS because Clay forgot to pack his bathroom bag and his medications. He is doing without his prescriptions but had to have an antihistamine. We went to Swan Lake Iris Gardens where they are supposed to have all 8 species of swans. We only saw 3 or 4 plus a lot of geese and ducks. It was very nice and the parking lot was nearly full and people were already set up with lawn chairs to view the eclipse. We still plan to just view it from outside the hotel. We went to the Sumter Mall after that to cool off for a couple of hours. We came back to the room around noon and ate. The room hadn't been serviced. We got on sunscreen and packed some supplies and a small ice chest and set up behind the parking lot with our lawn chairs. There were actually a surprising number of other people with the same idea around the hotel and in the big vacant lot next door where we had originally planned to set up. The eclipse was really incredible. If you weren't expecting it, it would be scary. It was worth the pre-eclipse broiling we endured!

We came back inside after the totality as did most everyone else. The room still hadn't been serviced. Since they were across the hall and saw us leave and didn't come in during the 2 hours we were out, we called it and put out the do not disturb sign. If they manage to get to it while we're at dinner so be it but we're in for the rest of the afternoon.

Hopefully, Clay will post some photos on these entries at some point. I know he took photos both days. We're both glad we came for the total eclipse of the sun. The corona was better than what we'd have gotten at home with 97% blockage.

Around 5pm we walked across the parking lot to the Buffalo Wild Wings next door. We ate some heavy food! We shared an appetizer of mini corn dogs. I had buffalo mac & cheese and Clay had classic wings. It was happy hour so after Clay was carded, he had a pint draft of Blue Point.

That was our Eclipse Day!

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